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| Issuer | Banco Central de Chile |
|---|---|
| Year | 1971-1973 |
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| Currency | Escudo (1960-1975) |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANCO CENTRAL DE CHILE QUINIENTOS ESCUDOS 1971 AÑO DE LA NACIONALIZACION DEL COBRE, SALITRE Y HIERRO CASA DE MONEDA DE CHILE (Translation: Central Bank of Chile Five Hundred Escudos 1971 - Year of the Nationalization of Copper, Saltpeter and Iron Chile Mint) |
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| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Comments |
This note marks one of the more consequential decisions in twentieth-century Latin American monetary history. When Salvador Allende's government nationalized the large copper mines in July 1971 — a measure that passed the Chilean congress unanimously — the Banco Central commemorated the event through currency, an unusual choice that made the 500 Escudos a piece of political as much as economic policy.
Printed domestically by the Casa de Moneda de Chile, the series ran through a period of accelerating inflation that would eventually render the entire Escudo system obsolete. By 1975, the military government that ousted Allende had replaced the Escudo with the new Peso at a rate of 1,000 to one.